Guest: Dr. Robert Zubrin. Topics: Goals and vision for space program, Augustine Commission. Dr. Robert Zubrin returned for this Space Show program to provide us with his assessment of the Augustine Commission's report and to put in context his goals and vision for our space program. In our first segment, Dr. Zubrin said that the Augustine Commission failed by not presenting a plan of action . Our entire segment was devoted to this discussion as was much of our program. Heavy lift was brought up and he said we would go nowhere in space without it. This is an action packed segment, don't miss it. Our second segment continued regarding Augustine and he shared his experiences with us when he spoke before the Commission as well as what happened when Elon Musk of SpaceX spoke before them regarding a fixed cost offer for building a heavy lift vehicle. Also in this segment, Dr. Zubrin had some things to say about some in the NewSpace community as well as the objective of reducing the cost to space. Our guest responded to many listener questions including one about RX drugs in space, artificial gravity and how best to achieve it on a Mars mission, and more. He took questions about The Mars Society, its future plans, and its membership. The subject of a one way trip to Mars was brought up and you will want to hear what he had to say about this idea. In our third and final segment with Dr. Zubrin, we talked about the possibility of an asteroid mission as part of the goal of going to Mars. He again said that the Augustine Commission failed President Obama and the American people. In response to one of my questions, Dr. Zubrin said that the NASA people he has talked to would be elated with a goal of going to Mars by 2019. Listen to his comments on these important topics. Public private partnerships were discussed, foreign leaders and space programs were addressed, and the Mars Society TEMPO project was described. As Dr. Zubrin left the show, he again said the Commission dropped the ball and that we needed Presidential Leadership to have a meaningful and acceptable civil space program. In our fourth and final segment which was Open Lines to discuss Dr. Zubrin's interview, we received a phone call from Dr. Jurist who went into detail regarding the biomedical issues regarding humans to Mars or for long duration spaceflight/space settlement. While Dr. Jurist was in agreement with Dr. Zubrin's goals and vision, he sharply disagreed with Zubrin's comments on the human factors issues. Dr. Jurist went into some detail explaining the biomedical facts around bone loss, centrifuge and artificial gravity requirements, closed loop life support, radiation, and psychological problems. We also talked about the use of RX drugs in the space environment and much more. We compared our state of readiness and development regarding our efforts to go to the Moon with Apollo to where we are today for Mars and long duration human spaceflight. One thing for sure that both Jurist and I agreed upon what that if we don't set the goal for Mars or something similar, we won't undertake the much needed research to address the human factors challenges. If you have questions or comments for Dr. Robert Zubrin, send them to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com. Please Visit The Mars Society website, www.themarsociety.org.
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